Essence - Got A Secret & BM-215

I was very excited when my new Bundle Monster plates arrived last week, I couldn't wait to try them out! I even shortened my nails to make the full nail images fit. It turned out they're not short enough, the images still don't fit and I had to do some double stamping. I really wish the full nail images were a tad bigger, 'cause I often fail at double stamping (and I want to keep this nail length :) ). But I think the result isn't too bad this time!

The base colour I used is Got A Secret from Essence, a light grey creme (two coats), I stamped it with China Glaze - Awaken and the fan image from plate BM-215. 

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The Cadet Shouts: "Sir! Yes, Sir!"

I'm a little late with my post for today, because I had a busy day: I went rafting with my husband's work. It was a very exciting experience, but I did swallow a lot of water (whew)!

About the nails: I wanted to spice up the military colour Sir! Yes, Sir! from Catrice I showed you yesterday. It's definitely not a boring colour, but after a day of wear this creme polish screamed for a little something something. So I sponged the tips with Space Cadet from Orly, which turned out great! Every time I use Space Cadet I'm amazed by all the colours it shows, wow. 

That's it for today, have a great weekend and.. thanks for watching! :) 

Catrice - Sir! Yes, Sir!

Today I'm showing you Sir! Yes, Sir! from Catrice, a dusty brownish army green creme. Interesting colour, I'm surprised by how much I like this 'dirty' colour on my nails. 

The formula was quite thick, even after adding some drops of nail polish thinner it wasn't the easiest to apply. I got an opaque result after two coats though and I really shouldn't complain too much about a polish that costs only €2,49, right? :)

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Cult Nails - Captivated

Captivated. A well chosen name for this nail polish, glittery goodness! I saw the first swatch of it and I wás captivated. Which was kinda surprising to me, because I'm not a big fan of chunky glitter polishes. But this one... oh, I nééded it. Captivated is part of a collection called A Day at the Races, a beautiful range of nail polishes designed by fellow blogger Maria! Creating your own nail polish line, isn't that the dream of every nail polish lover..? *sigh*

Maria describes Captivated as 'a coral based jelly polish packed with gold and coral glitter'. I have nothing to add to that description. It's extremely pretty, so sparkly, like a summer party on my nails! It'll be awesome for a pedi too, so applying it on my toenails will be the next thing I'm doing. The formula on this one was quite goopy, so the application wasn't the easiest. I hope some thinner will solve that, 'cause I want to wear this beauty all summer long! I used three coats and one layer of topcoat. On the pictures it may look a little see-through, especially on the pic taken in sunlight (3rd), but in real life it's more opaque. And more sparkly too! The nail surface feels slightly bumpy after applying Captivated, but that can be solved with a good layer (or two) of topcoat.

Thanks for watching!

Milani - Hi-Res

Gorgeous, right? This is Hi-Res from Milani. My camera wouldn't pick up the right colour and made it look quite blueish, in real life it's actually more lavender coloured (the picture below is the most colour accurate). Hi-Res has one of my favourite finishes, it's a prismatic! The prismatic particles are quite chunky, they remind me of small pieces of glass. Indoors it looks mostly like a polish with silvery flecks, but when sunlight is added Hi-Res comes to life, woah! I recommend wearing Hi-Res on a sunny day, you'll be amazed by its beauty! I really, really like this one. :L

The formula was good, I used three coats for an opaque result, no topcoat.

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Giveaway Winner!

It's time to announce the winner of my 500 follower giveaway. I can't believe I've almost reached 1000 followers.. *faints* I needed some time to go through all the entries, a total of 725! :o Thank you all so much for participating, you guys are awesome!

I used random.org to determine the lucky winner of this giveaway. 

The winner is...

Congratulations Lady Delish!! I'll be emailing you shortly for your address. This lady also has a blog, you can check it out here. 

Glamorous Chuck

I don't like to spend a lot of money on a nail polish, but I made an exception for one: OPI DS Glamour. I will never regret buying it, because it's a bottle full of awesomesauce. This morning I was applying Chuck from Essence, a gorgeous blurple creme, and you know what? It's the perfect 'underwear' for Glamour! Now I don't have to apply three coats of Glamour every time I want to wear it and see my bottle getting emptier and emptier...

The formula of Chuck is amazing, I applied two coats and one coat of Glamour, no topcoat.

Thanks for watching!

p.s. A lot of people entered my giveaway, which is really amazing, but it takes some time to go through all the entries. :) I'll announce the winner asap!

Pig In The Mud - Cake and Nail Art

Of all the cakes I made this is one of my favourites, it's a 'pig(s) in the mud' cake. I found a picture of a pig in the mud cake on the internet a while ago and I immediately wanted to make my own version. Look at those little pigs chillin' in their mud bath, isn't it hilarious? I think it is! I gave this cake to one of my brothers on his birthday, he lol'd. :r

If you know me you could've expected matching nail art, well, here you are. :) The pink nail polish you see on most nails is a new one from Catrice called Miss Piggy Reloaded (again, hilarious), the brown I used is You Don't Know Jacques! from OPI and for some darker pink details I used Orly - Pixy Stix. 

*A quick reminder: today is the last day you can enter my giveaway! The giveaway will close tonight at 11.59 pm CET.*

Thanks for watching!

Sparkly Berry

I have a short post for you today, because I have a terrible headache. xo 

I'm wearing a berry coloured creme from Catrice, called Just Berried! Two coats, smooth application. To spice things up I sponged the tips with Zoya - Faye. I love these golden sparkly tips!

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Essence Nail Art Twins - Bella & Edward

Today I'm showing you one of the Nail Art Twins from Essence, a cheery blue toned green set with a creme polish (Bella) and a glitter topper (Edward). My camera had some trouble picking up the right colour, in real life it looks greener and brighter. Applying Bella was a dream, the formula is very smooth and pigmented. I used two coats, but you can certainly get away with one coat. Edward contains different types of glitter, really fun to look at. I love this set from Essence! The base colour is gorgeous and the glitter polish really adds a nice touch.

The only thing I don't get is why Essence named this set after the head characters from the Twilight series. For a set called Bella & Edward a blood red creme and a gold glitter polish (resembling Edward's skin in sunlight, lol) would've been a better choice, right? Or is it just me..? :O

Thanks for watching!

Colour Block Inspired Nails

Colour blocking (combining blocks/areas of different solid colours) is one of the trends for spring / summer 2011. I've seen a lot of pictures from fashion shows with the most beautiful colour combinations. That must look awesome on nails too, so I decided to make colour block inspired nails. You can keep it simple and make skittles (painting each nail in a different colour), but for some real colour blocking you can use different colours on one nail, for example by making funky french tips. I'm not sure what to think of the french tips I did, doesn't it look a bit too ehh.. funky? :i The fun part is that you can use whatever colours you want, but don't be shy, the bigger the contrast the better!

The nail polishes I used (the 1st picture is the most colour accurate btw):

green: OPI - Jade Is The New Black

berry: Catrice - Just Berried!

blue: Catrice - Blue Cara Ciao

orange: Essence - Andy, You're A Star

Thanks for watching and hey.. a big welcome to all my new followers! :D

Teeez - Free

Today I have a pretty green for you, Free from Teeez. It looks like Free has a jellylike consistency and it's filled with beautiful tiny silver flecks. Really, really pretty! I am a big fan of greens and this one doesn't dissapoint. It reminds me of one of my biggest lemmings, MAC - Jade Dragon (Fall/Winter 2010 collection), and to be honest: I think I'm satisfied with having this one #proud.

Now I only have to hunt down Ming Blue and Rain of Flowers from the same collection. :$

Applying Free was easy, I used two coats for complete coverage. The only downside is that this polish stains like crazy, even cleaning up tiny mistakes took more time than usual. I always use a layer of basecoat, but I recommend using two coats with this one. Just to be safe.

Do you like Free? It's part of my giveaway, so if you want a chance to get your hands on it, enter!

Thanks for watching!

Comparison: Color Club - Alias and Orly - Out Of This World

Yesterday I showed you the stunning nail polish Alias from Color Club. When I was taking pictures of it, it reminded me very much of one of the nail polishes from the Cosmic FX Collection from Orly, Out Of This World. So I compared it with Alias, and I also used Space Cadet (also from Orly) on one nail.. just because I can, lol. If you hold the bottles next to each other Alias and OOTW look quite similar, but on the nail I see more differences. Alias contains smaller particles and has a denser look - OOTW looks a little deceiving in the bottle, denser than when it's applied on the nail. Alias is also lighter, has a stronger duochromatic/multichromatic effect and is less pigmented than the Orly one. I used four coats for Alias and three coats for OOTW, no topcoat.

It's obvious that Space Cadet and Alias show an other range of colours, but they both have the same multichromatic look and the density of the particles/glitter is not that different. I love these kind of polishes!

Well.. I hope this was helpful for some of you. :)

Thanks for watching and have a nice weekend!

Color Club - Alias

This is a-ma-zing. I mean, creme polishes become totally boring next to a polish like this one. I'm showing you Alias from the Keep It Undercover part of the Alter Ego Spring 2011 Collection from Color Club (woah, that are a lot of names in one sentence). When I saw the first swatches of Alias I knew I had to have it. And you need it too, if you want an unbelievably stunning polish that is. ;) In sunlight Alias shows a nice sparkle (first picture), but indoors it shows his (her?) true colours. It looks like multicoloured molten metal on my nails... *sigh* Pure love!

Now that I told you how amazing Alias is, I have to bring the sad news: it's very sheer. I had to apply four coats (me no likey!), but the layers dried quickly. If you don't want to apply so many coats you can easily layer Alias over a dark purple for example and that's what I'm going to do the next time, 'cause I need to wear this one more than once!

Thanks for watching!

Gamax - Malva

Gamax Natural Summer Suggestion

I was in the mood for something subtle on my nails after wearing dark or neon nail polishes, so I chose to wear Malva from the Gamax Natural Summer Suggestion. 

Malva is a pinkish nude creme with a sophisticated, fresh look. Definitely work appropriate. What I really like about Malva is that it makes my hands look so tanned! My husband thought it looked great too, I've trained him to like every colour I wear, but I guess he was happy to see a less crazy colour on my nails for once. :O

The formula was ok, the only complaint I have is that it's a little bit on the watery side. I used three coats, no topcoat.

Thanks for watching!

*The product(s) in this post was/were sent to me for reviewing purposes.

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

Ravishing Ruby - My 1st franken!

source

Today I present to you my first franken*, which I called Ravishing Ruby. I never knew it could be hard to find the right name for a nail polish *phew*. So why this name? Well, because it's ravishing (right? Right?! lol) and the colour reminds me strongly of the Birma Ruby, an utterly gorgeous gemstone. Too bad rubys are very expensive.. I think a cocktail ring with that stone on it would look so great next to this polish. :d

What can I say? I'm really happy with the result of my first attempt to franken something. I wish I could tell you what I threw in the bottle, but I used too many polishes, it was a chaos! I recall using Nfu Oh #62, Catrice - The Devil Wears Red, China Glaze - VIII, a few drops of OPI - DS Original... See? Not helping. ;)

The formula was fantastic. I was afraid it would end up being a gloopy mess, but no, it applied like butter. This is two coats without topcoat, ain't it glossy?

Tell me, have you ever made a franken and is it the polish of your dreams?

Thanks for watching!

*franken(polish): a nail polish created 'at home' by mixing other nail polishes, loose glitter, pigments or whatever you want in it;

Queen's Day Nails

I'm a little late posting this, I just had a busy weekend.. oh well, better late than never, right? Past Saturday was a national holiday in The Netherlands, called Queen's Day. On this day the Dutch people celebrate the birthday of our Queen. Her actual birthday is on January the 31st, but I won't annoy you with the story behind that, on to the nails! Queen's Day means Orange Craze, it's time for the Dutchies to go all crazy with the colour orange; orange clothing, orange wigs, orange make up, orange nails... I'm not a big fan of orange (I'm a shame for my country, lol), but that doesn't stop me from putting something bright and fun on my nails, ha! :O I used four coats of China Glaze - Flip Flop Fantasy (terrible formula, yuk!) and sponged the tips with one of my new pretties, Rica from Zoya. These two polishes are a match made in heaven, seriously, so pretty! My camera freaked out when I wanted to photograph my nails, it looks waaay more coral and less orangey in real life. But for those of you who like orange, here you are. ;)

Thanks for watching!